More than two-fifths (44%) of employer respondents believe that the gender pay gap reporting requirements will not lead to organisations taking action to close the gender pay gap, according to research by the Young Women’s Trust.
Its survey of 800 HR professionals also found that 10% of respondents are aware of women in their workplace who are being paid less than men for jobs at the same level.
The research also found:
- 51% of female respondents think that the gender pay gap reporting requirements will not cause employers to take action to close their organisation’s gender pay gap, compared to 40% of male respondents who think this.
- 18% of respondents feel that women’s average earnings will never be as high as men’s, and 10% believe it will take more than 25 years to achieve parity.
- 13% of respondents who work in the public sector are aware of female colleagues who are being paid less in their workplace for jobs at the same level, compared to 10% of private sector respondents.
- 13% of respondents at large organisations are aware of women being paid less than men for jobs at the same level within their organisation.
Dr Carole Easton OBE (pictured), chief executive officer at the Young Women’s Trust, said: “We need urgent action to close the gap. Gender pay gap reporting is a great step forward but does not go far enough to close the gap.
“The new legislation will only be effective if the government puts in place and enforces penalties for [organisations] that fail to report their pay gaps accurately. Where pay gaps do exist, like at the BBC, Young Women’s Trust would like to see that [organisations] are obliged to put in place plans to reduce them.”